Superhuman strength, Shaquille O’Neal used to exterminate the role players who often found themselves facing him in the NBA rackets. One of them, however, made him experience an ordeal, of which he still keeps an intact memory today.
Unsurprisingly, he often finds himself on the hardest-to-defend lists compiled by league legends. After all, Shaquille O’Neal is among the most dominant stars in NBA history. A dominance that extended most of the time to defense, he who appeared three times in an All-Defensive Team, and who ended his career with an average of 2.3 blocks per game.
From then on, it was not only difficult for Shaq’s opponents to contain him in terms of scoring, but also to try to exist offensively. And yet, some have succeeded, and not necessarily the most feared. Much less recognized than a Karl Malone – who turned for his part at 25.2 points per game against Diesel, a man gave him for example big cold sweats.
Bryant Reeves, Shaquille O’Neal’s WTF executioner
Like any player, however prestigious he may be, O’Neal had his nemesis in the league, which he dreaded to face more than anyone else. But in his case, it wasn’t a high-sounding name; quite the contrary. While on the show Open Courtthe Big Aristotle thus revealed the unknown identity of his worst nightmare on an NBA floor: Bryant “Big Country” Reeves!
The player I hated playing against? Big Country. Because in my day, backs who didn’t like defending, they always told big guys like me to get out of the way and defend on guys like him. And Big Country would always get 4-5 yards from the basket, he had the most disgusting one-handed shot I’ve seen, and it always went in. At halftime, I was looking at the stats, and it said, “Shaq: 15 points; Big Country: 26”!
Of course, Shaq exaggerates slightly on this one. In reality, Reeves has never surpassed 24 points in a game against him. However, he has indeed happened to sign a few cards, especially at the start of his career. In the end, the famous Big Country may only post career averages of 11.2 points and 8.3 rebounds against the Shaq, but his game will have traumatized the latter.
But then, how to explain that this very plump pivot passed only by the Vancouver Grizzlies did not know how to make a place for himself in history? The answer probably lies in the contract he inherited following his third season, called by some the worst in history. Anyway, the man can boast of having been the man most feared by O’Neal himself!
Karl Malone? Charles Barley? Tim Duncan? No, the interior that will have martyred Shaquille O’Neal the most in his career would be Bryant Reeves. Quite a feat of arms for the main interested party… and probably the only one.
